Speer, Lucile, 1899-1987

Lucile Speer was born on January 7, 1899, in Branch County, Michigan. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Montana, where her older brother, J.B. Speer, was registrar and business manager. She later got her Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Chicago.

She returned to Montana for two years of library study. After completing the library training course, she became a member of the staff and then the faculty of The University of Montana. She started out as a library assistant in 1928-1929, worked as an assistant cataloguer, and became Documents and Serials Librarian by 1938. She retired in 1968, as Documents Librarian and professor.

Speer was a member of numerous professional associations. She served as secretary and president of the University Teachers Union. She was a founding member of the Montana Farmer-Labor Institute, serving as its secretary from 1944 to 1949. On campus, she was a member of the Faculty Senate and the Chairman of the Archives Committee. She was politically involved through the League of Women Voters of Montana and the Missoula Democratic Club. She later worked on Eugene McCarthy’s campaign in 1968. She was selected as a delegate to the Montana Constitutional Convention of 1972, as a Democrat from Missoula. She wrote the work We, The People…An Introduction to the Montana Constitutional Convention (1972), a public information publication about the new constitution. Speer died in October 1987, in Missoula, Montana.

From the guide to the Lucile Speer Papers, 1911-1972, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)